Let's Play Final Fantasy X: International (Expert Grid)

Once upon a time, a beautiful game was born. It came first to the land of Nihon, far across the western sea, and then traveled to the New World, into our loving embrace. But when the land of Nihon saw our joyous union, it grew angry. It did not want to share such beauty! So the people of Nihon took the game and further refined its beauty. This new gem it kept cradled in its embraced, confident it was guarded from outside eyes.

There was one flaw in this selfish plan: The game could be played in the language of the New World as well as that of Nihon, and though the game was guarded well from the eyes of outsiders, it was not guarded perfectly. It could be attained... for a price.



Hey guys, we're gonna play



I'm going to skip the long and painful story of trying to get a way of playing a Region 2 game. The moral of that untold story is don't try to mod a system yourself, even if the modding processing in question claims to be easy and you can't possibly void your warranty doing it. Those are ugly lies.



Egads!

The main difference between the two versions of the game is the leveling system. The Sphere Grid is sort of a compromise between the class system of old and the do-anything systems of more recent games. You guide the characters along paths around a huge grid, picking up stat boosts and abilities. Everybody is on the same grid but they can't cross into each others areas without certain uncommon-to-rare items.

Final Fantasy X: International has a second grid layout available, the Expert Grid. On that grid, everyone starts in a central area and can go wherever the hell you want. They're positioned to follow their original roles but it's very easy to mix things up.

We're going to be using that Expert Grid and you guys are going to be telling me how to guide everyone's development. You can even make the girls with crappy weapons into tanks if you like, though I have no idea how effective that will be. I'll go into that more when we get to that tutorial (but feel free to voice ideas before then).

Other changes in this version include a few new abilities, particularly a way to get exactly the spheres (for use on the Sphere Grid) you need. There are also new extra-powerful bosses to maybe tackle and some number rebalancing stuff I'm not that concerned with.

Now let's play? Almost!

You know how this game is in English? We gotta tell the game that's what we want in Japanese. And just for the heck of it, the Sphere Grid selection is in Japanese too.



You can change the language later from the options menu but it's a good long time before you can get into the menu. All the dialog is in English regardless so don't be fooled! Subs is where it's at.



Now? Yes now.

Game start!





The End of the World. An inauspicious way to begin our Tale. Weapons of War lie in a heap, cast aside. Could it be? Have our Heroes already given up? What kind of dreadful opening is this?! Is the Writer really going to use Random Capitalization throughout?!!

Cradled in the shadow of a small hill, our seven heroes gather around a tiny campfire. Though near in proximity, they are far scattered in thought. The sun slowly falls in the sky and the Glittermites come out to play. Yet even the sparkling dance of the Glittermites in the air around them cannot lift their weary spirits.



No words are exchanged as one among them, a beautiful blond amazoness of a young woman, rises from the circle. A second girl, garbed in such lovely clothes none in the world could resist trying them on given the opportunity, wants to say something to her but can't find the words. The fair valkyrie pats her on the shoulder as if to say "I know. I know."

She climbs to the top of the hill to survey the devastated landscape while there is still light to do so. Though by all rights hope should be but a distant memory, the girl gazes out with eyes filled to the brim with that light but intense feeling mixed with thick, syrupy determination. Things will not end this way, she is certain. For this is Her Story.



Far from that ruined land is a glorious city where towers brush the clouds and every window glitters brightly with an inner light. It is a City of the Future. In one corner of the city, a crowd gathers, twinging with excitement, waiting for the arrival of someone who must be pretty darn cool. "Oh my gosh" one of them breathlessly exclaims when at last she appears. It's her! The heir to the Blitzball Throne!

Ten years ago, the last World Champion disappeared off the face of the whole freaking planet. Now it's time for his daughter, in her Blitzball debut, to remind everybody what full contact water soccer is all about.



Desperate for some tangible evidence with their brush with divinity, the fans beg her to sign whatever sports paraphernalia they have at hand. Dear readers, I must now turn to you for guidance. Who is this most beauteous lady? This Diva of Blitz? (Limit 8 characters.)

Wait, wait — the game has English spoken dialogue? I may need to get this one ...

I'm gonna go for the obvious choice and suggest Meg Ryan.

Don't you mean the awesomest choice? Put me for this as well.

Name him TIDE-US to remind us all of the most sensical pronunciation.

I already love this thread.

I say GRUNHLDA

I'll mostly just be impressed if this one finishes.

I third this motion, and move for it to be labeled "Totally rad".

Seconded.

I'll be a little more subtle and say Sally.

Me too! But I'm gonna give it a shot. No way I'm gonna plan to tackle FFX-2 though. That would be guaranteeing I never make it past Luca.

Tally so far:
4 Meg Ryan
1 GRUNHLDA
1 TIDE-US
1 Sally

And here I actually passed on a chance to make a Meg Ryan joke in the first post!

I liked Meg Ryan, but Sally is the funnier name so my vote is for Sally

WHAT WOULD PHILLIAM DO?

My guess is he'd vote for Sally. So I shall also.

Another vote for Sally. Incidentally, do the characters ever refer to him by name? In the text-only dialogue, at least? I... I don't think they do. At least, I don't remember.

I vote you name him "Hey, you" since that's what the rest of the cast calls him anyway.

This is one of those games I've never played but always felt like I should've, so I'll be following this LP very closely.

Special Attack: Fake orgasm?

4 Meg Ryan
4 Sally
1 GRUNHLDA
1 TIDE-US
1 Hey, you

Clearly I'm going to be making Meg Ryan jokes for a very very long time regardless. @_@ I'll put off playing further until tomorrow morning at least.

And no one ever refers to Tidus by name except in Kingdom Hearts. It's mostly what I have to call Tidus for this LP.

While I'm not recanting on my vote, I have a cruel suggestion: (spoiler-tagged for newcomers to the game) Figment.

I also vote Sally.

Meg Ryan was a hottie back in the day. I want to build a time machine so I can hit on hottie Meg Ryan.

Which is to say you should use Meg Ryan.

One more vote for Meg Ryan here. No need to be subtle in a Nomura game.

I'm wondering why you didn't just use the English version that Europe got.

But anyways I'm up for more Meg Ryan jokes. "Hey, you" also amuses me but if there's no comma then there's no point.

I am under the impression the European version and the Japanese rerelease are about the same. Particularly in the "need to get a modded PS2" area.

I'll go with Sally because I remember the Meg Ryan joke being done to death back when the game came out.

I'm going with the Sally camp too because I just realized there's an opportunity for a faking orgasm joke during the laughing scene.

Numbers be damned, Sally wins because of this right here.

... I'mma changing my vote: Sally all teh way.

And I just got over a recent week-long marathon playing FFX through to the Calm Lands.

Turnip's revelation proves that Sally is the name to use.